In the Dark
by Byakkoya no Musume
Summary: How could one simple case turn into something so disastrous in such little time? Why do people lie? In the face of death can Edogawa Conan pull through and solve the mystery, or will the reaper take him down as well...


In a dark alleyway two dark figures emerge, one was frantically stumbling away from the other shadowed figure.

"Wait...can't, we-I don't know- talk this over...I didn't mean to hurt you or anything! It was only--AHHH!" the shadowed figure revealed to me a young woman in a short pink dress, she was cut off by a large butcher knife being imbedded into her chest. She grasped tightly to the attacker's arm, ripping the sleeve at the elbow, before falling into the trash of the alleyway.

The woman's eyes glazed over as she took her last breath.

"Ah...excuse me, is everyone alright--Oh my God!" An elderly man peered into the dark space, stumbled back in surprise and horror as he came face to face with the murdered woman's twisted and anguished face.

"Miyuki-san!!! Called the police, someone has been killed!" A teenage boy ran out of the apartment complex to see the commotion. "Daisuke, get inside. Now!" the boy fearing the implications behind those words ran and hid behind the middle-aged woman on the phone.

"Hello? This is Mizugawa Miyuki, there has been a murder in the back alleyway behind the apartment complex...no, no one has touched the remains...oh, 65408 W. Harada Lane, apartment number 5. Alright, arigatou kessha-san." quietly she grasped the phone with both hands and gently set it back on the holster

"Well...?"

"Inspector Megure will be here in 20 minutes, Daisuke-kun, make sure the jiji doesn't touch the body, okay?" She warmly patted the boy's hair.

"Yes, Okaasan, I'll stop him!" the teen chirped and bounded off back to the alley.

0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-0 20 minutes later 0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-0

"Ah...Megure-san. Konnichiwa." A lanky man addressed the rather portly officer.

"Konnichiwa, Mori-san, Ran-chan, Conan-kun..."

"Konnichiwa." the other two robotically responded.

"So what is the situation with this one?" Mori Kougoro asked apathetically, seeming none too impressed with the current flow of murder rate.

"Twenty-three year old, Wabayashi Makoto, the locals heard a struggle, and she was found dead in the alleyway stabbed through the heart." Megure read the report off slowly making sure nothing was missed.

And, as if as ritual, the youngest of the group began searching around the crime scene to look for clues that would lead to the solution of this murder case. Immediately, he noticed the green fabric strands laced between her blue painted fingernails. Taking in other details such as: blood but no wounds near the splotch, an earring was pulled, and the strange outfit the victim was found wearing. 'Who did she think she was from...the 60s?' blue eyes narrowed in amusement, but quickly turned into annoyance, as once again he was lifted by his collar by a very irate Detective Mori.

"What do you think you're doing!? Again! Jeez Conan, enough is enough! Stay back by Ran please." the cigarette lolled dangerously from the detective's mouth as he continued his tirade. 'Damn you, Occhan' the small boy sulked while slinked back to his position next to Mori Ran, who merely provided an apologetic grin at Conan.

"Ne...Occhan, I think there might be something in the girl's hand, can you check it, please..." Conan put on his best puppy look, trying to hint at the clues he discovered.

"Oi, shut up, brat---Oh, green string? Hey, Megure-san! I think I might know what happened." The detective casually strolled over to the Inspector.

While the two men were having their discussion, Conan began to wander in search of new clues. 'Something isn't right...something missing? No...I have a bad feeling about this.'

A black clad mass ran across his field of vision, abruptly ending his musings. As soon as a thought passed, Edogawa Conan gave chase, unseen to the eyes of the standby adults.

"Oi, Stop right there!" Conan roared at the escapee. In response, the masked man ran faster. With no further option, the little detective turned on his shoes for the extra power boost he needed to stop the run away.

Sure enough, a metal pail sailed through the air, finding a perfect spot on the assailant's face, the man fell face first into the ground.

Conan stood with hands on his knees struggling for air 'This is weird; I feel off, it's not chloroform…what's happening to me?' Stumbling over the unconscious suspect, he noticed a rip and a scrape along the man's elbow. Kneeling down carefully, as to not wake the man up, slid his fingers underneath the mask and began to pull the cloth off his face.

As the mask came off, it was hard to keep the gasp from escaping his lips. The man's face was severely scarred; the nose, lips, and eyelids were almost completely non-existent.

"Conan…Where are you?" the distant voice of Ran echoed through the dark streets.

"I'm here…" he trailed off in shock, since when was his voice so hoarse and deep, was it puberty? That was definitely something he did not want to go through with again.

"Conan-kun, what happened?" She had finally reached the alleyway; the funny sensation Conan was feeling had now reached full vertigo. He swayed lightly, but righted himself as soon as he was back on his feet.

"Ano…this man tried taking something from the crime scene, so I chased him down, and then he tripped and hit is head." He replied sheepishly, grasping the back of his head in a childlike fashion.

"Conan, you really need to stop running off like this, you could get hurt!" Ran cried, giving the small detective a crushing hug, she let off a small gasp at the heat radiating off the small boy.

"You're sick! Conan!" the concern on her face tripled, while hints of outrage flashed across her face.

"N-no I'm perfectly fine…" As soon as those words left his lips the vertigo came crashing back, sending him to his knees. Nausea soon followed, it took all he had to keep from losing his breakfast. 'Alright already, I concede…but what's wrong with me?' His held these last conscious thoughts as blurry vision could just barely make out Ran rushing to catch him. And then all was black

0-00-00-00-00-0 Back with Detective Mori and Inspector Megure 0-00-00-00-00-0

They all heard Ran's terrified scream, and Mori Kougoro's fatherly instincts immediately sent him flying over to his daughter. Megure and several other police men followed suit, normally during a murder case, only Megure left the crime scene, but in a public area such as this…one cannot be careful enough.

When they arrived at the scene, they were reeling from shock. Ran was clutching a small body, the main features hid from the angle of their view. A man lay comatose in the garbage, a face totally marred with scars.

"Conan…please…wake up!" she shook the small boy, tears cascading down her face; Megure and Mori yelped. 'Was Conan…?' neither man wanted to finish that thought. After a quick inspection, they found no traces of blood around, other than the blood found on the man's elbow. The detective frowned down at the downed man, his right hand was covered in dry blood, and the green sweater was torn at the elbow? Nail marks? Ah! This man killed Ms. Makoto!

"Oi, Megure, we've found the culprit behind Makoto-san's murder." He pointed towards the man on the floor.

"Ah…I see, you take Ran and Conan to the hospital, while we clean up here." He jerked his thumb back to the sobbing girl.

"I-I got it."

0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-0 End 0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-0

So…how was it? This is my first Detective Conan fanfiction, and I kind of wanted to add some drama to it, was it too much? …I'm not sure where I want to take this though. So leave reviews so I may come up with more mystery and drama fun for all!!!


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